called for a tougher international approach towards kim jong—un‘s government. according to south korean and american officials, the missile exploded shortly after lift—off. president trump said on twitter the launch showed north korea's disrespect for its main ally, china. there've been violent scenes across brazil, after the country's first general strike for 20 years. millions were protesting over proposed pension reforms, forcing schools and banks to close and paralysing public transport. france's far—right national front has replaced its leader for the second time in just three days after a row erupted about past comments he made about the holocaust. jean—francois jalkh denies claims he questioned the reality of nazi gas chambers. campaigners claim that controversial plans to build a garden bridge over the river thames in london are dead after the mayor said he would not support the project. sadiq khan wrote to the garden

4:31 am

bridge trust saying it could poses too great a financial risk to london's taxpayers. tom edwards reports. this is a huge blow for the garden bridge, which is meant to be built here. its future is now hanging by a thread. as part of its planning permissions, which expire in december, it was meant to have financial guarantee for maintenance and for operation. today, the mayor pulled the plug on those. the reality is there is a £70 million funding gap now. the attempts to get pledges is going backwards, not forwards. the pledges the garden bridge trust have are less than they were in 2015. why didn't you kill it day one, a year ago? because i was clear a year ago that no more taxpayers‘ money that i'm responsible for will be spent. i was clear i would not guarantee for more spending down the road.

4:32 am

they also did not like it was using transport funds for building what, in essence, was a tourist attraction. campaigners now say the whole project is dead. do you think the garden bridge is dead now? yes. without a doubt. they haven't got the money. they can't get it. they spent years getting it, and they need a guarantee, and sadiq khan has said that he will not underwrite it. londoners will not pay £3.5 million to keep this alive. there is a tiny chance the garden bridge trust will find another public body to give the financial assurances, but the wider picture, now, is that political support from the mayor has now evaporated. all of this crucially means that the taxpayer will have lost £46 million. the big question is why, and who was to blame. now on bbc news, our world.

4:33 am

kathmandu, the city i call home. my friend nirmala and i never felt restricted here, until we started our periods. suddenly there were lots of things we were not meant to do, like cook or worship. my college friend, she's like i'm having my period, i'm treated like a queen, i don't have to work in kitchen, i don't have to go to temples, that's not treating you like a queen, that's like treating you like you're untouchable. the rules didn't make much sense to us growing up. my mother used to tell me that you shouldn't touch plants or they will die. periods are still deeply taboo here in nepal. and while things in the city are gradually changing, we heard in the remote far west it's very different. so we're leaving our urban life to travel to the mountains,

4:34 am

to discover why the taboos are still so powerful. and ask why some people are so scared of menstruating women that they won't even let them inside the house. they have to sleep in there, i'm really shocked, this is a place where they keep cattle. my name is divya, i recently graduated and live with my parents. they're very liberal but sometimes i can't take part in celebrations as i'm considered impure by my extended family. it was a festive season, i was preparing everything for the worship and i did everything, i worked for one day and i suddenly had my period and then everybody was like purify everything, she touched it, let's not do it now, it has to get purified

4:35 am

before we worship the god. i think what it is when we ask our parents why we do this, they don't have a clear answer because they're like god will be angry. i feel she's very brave, she stood by her words that's ok now my daughter doesn't have to go through this and i think i'm going to continue that. i can't believe how much things have changed since my mum was young. but my friend nirmala and i have heard it's very different outside the city. we know that in far west nepal we still hear that it's the poorest part of our country and we really wanted to know what the women there are going through during menstruation periods, that's the reason we want to travel to the far west. we've never done anything quite like this before. our trip will take us to some of the most remote parts

4:36 am

of the country where the rules around menstruation are politically strict. it takes several days to get to the far west. our first stop is dang valley in the fertile plains of terai, near the indian border. we've arranged to meet a local health worker to tell us about the situation for women here. we were just a few miles from the airport and we were shocked by what we find. the practice of sleeping outside the house during menstruation

4:37 am

is known as chhaupadi. it's been going on for generations. because menstruating women are considered impure, they face other restrictions too. she says it's an hour's walk to the river so women can wash during their period. she doesn't feel comfortable, she won't be able to.

4:38 am

i thought i was facing a lot of restrictions, a lot of problems, but when i come here and see the people, this is something out of my imagination. she has been campaigning against chhaupadi four years as sleeping out without access to clean water can cause serious health problems. she tells us that chhaupadi was brought here by migrants from the far west so that's where we're heading, deep into the mountains of bhajan to try and find out more

4:39 am

about this ancient tradition. but what should be a ten hour drive takes far longer as it's the hindu festival of colours. and everybody is celebrating. we eventually get on our way to this small village. when we arrive a local teenager agrees to show me around. almost every family in this village practices chhaupadi. she tells me women will wear the same close and sleep out almost every family in this village practices chhaupadi. she tells me women will wear the same close and sleep out forfour nights, during that time they can't touch men or eat certain foods, afterwards they are purified with cow urine and return

4:40 am

to normal life. this very fun part they told me was that they don't follow it, they touch their brothers and fathers and they come to their own house after menstruating and they don't even purify themselves after touching other women who are menstruating. i think things are changing. i think it won't last for long any more. and while i've been continuing to talk, nirmala has met a young woman who is pushing the boundaries even further. she is in her early 20s like us and hasn't slept in the hut for two years. there are several hundred people in the village. most of the young men work abroad as labourers in india or the gulf. so it's the older generation who make the rules. we don't find the older generation saying no true traditions, it's the younger ones who are experimenting you are saying no this is not true. so i think it's our generation who wants to explore new things, i think this generation will bring change.

4:41 am

but change comes very slowly, and even in cosmopolitan kathmandu, some of the taboos still remain. i told my friends that i had my period in the school and they were shocked to see me. really, why were they shocked? they were just like how can you come on the first day, you should be inside the room, you should not go in the kitchen, you should not touch any boys, they were pretty shocked about it. are they still following those restrictions? yes like i have seen my friends, they have a special room just because they have a period and mostly in the houses where their grandparents are, they mostly follow it. while we can laugh about the restrictions,

4:42 am

they can have serious consequences. several girls have died sleeping out. just last year, a 15—year—old suffocated while trying to light a fire to keep herself warm in a chhau hat and according to my local priest, there is nothing in hindi scripture that says they need to practice chhaupadi at all. the government has been trying to change things. chhaupadi was declared illegal in 2005, but that hasn't made much difference to people. we have heard such a lot about chhau and want to experience

4:43 am

it for ourselves. the women inside are members of the same family, this woman only started her period six months ago to this is all new to her. in an effort to end the practice, international ngos and local government have been working together to educate local people. and several areas have now been declared officially chhau free. but we want to see what that really means so we're travelling to a chhau free village. a localjournalist is travelling with us to show us the way. here we go.

4:44 am

it's a bumpy ride. and we don't get very far. something really terrible happened, our carjust got into the mud and it didn't come out. i think we have got some work to do. unexpected heavy rain at the night before has made the roads almost impassable. it worked.

4:45 am

we eventually get on our way. we don't want to get stuck in the mud again so we decide to walk into the village. and initially people here are reluctant to speak to us about what has changed. but not everyone has been so accepting of the changes. i'm really shocked, this is a place where they keep cattle. we expected things to be very different here. with girls sleeping in their own rooms. but it didn't look that different

4:46 am

to the previous village. just demolishing the huts will not make a difference because it's their mentality, their beliefs, it's their thinking which has to change, it's notjust the huts that are demolished that will change it. we want to know if the people in charge think the chhau free policy is working. we are shocked that even government officials admit the lies aren't working. and as knocking huts down doesn't seem to discourage people either, it looks like it's down to our generation to try to change things. it's time for us to head home, but as we leave, i hope that the girls will continue to push the boundaries of tradition. so that their daughters can earn the simple right to sleep inside. well, the bank holiday weekend is upon us.

4:47 am

let's see what the weather's up to. it is looking a little bit mixed. a little breezy, but reasonably warm, i think, for most of us. and there is some rain on the way, but not everybody is going to get the rain. let's see the weather map in the short term. weather fronts are fairly close to the uk, but far enough to give us a dry start to the day. so this is what it looks like around 4:00—5:00am in the morning. lots of clear spells around. temperatures in towns and cities around 6—9 degrees celsius, so not a particularly chilly start to the day. and then saturday morning dawns on a bright, if not sunny, note for most of us. there will be a little bit of cloud here and there, but the cloud breaks up through the morning and the best of the sunshine on saturday is expected across the southern half of the uk, especially the south coast. so looking out to sea, it might be clear blue skies.

4:48 am

temperatures at lunchtime, you can see 1:00pm there, 15 degrees in london. but for most of us, around 12—13 degrees, and just maybe one or two light, stray showers around, but that's pretty much it. nice enough there in inverness, as well. around 12 degrees, with some sunshine. the afternoon is not going to change much. it will turn breezy across some of these western areas, maybe even later in the day in northern ireland. around the coasts, it could even touch gale—force. how are we doing compared to the rest of europe on saturday? actually, fairly similar there in paris, 17 degrees. we are doing better than madrid. madrid about 14 degrees. rome will be sunny at 22. the real heat at the moment across greece, there, into the 30s. back to the uk, saturday and into sunday, low pressure still out there in the atlantic. but starting to push weather fronts ever closer. so already, on sunday, the weather will be going downhill across south—western parts of the uk. quite strong winds as well — notjust in the south—west, but also in these

4:49 am

sunnier spots, too. so along the north sea coasts, really blustery winds. so feeling really quite chilly on the coast. ahead of this weather front and the rain it could get up to 18 in london, and possibly the mid or high teens in scotland as well. and then through the course of the evening, this is sunday evening, that rain will be slowly pushing further north and east. and by the time we get to monday, you can see the weather front across the north, and the chance of catching some showers across southern areas. so a bit of a mix. certainly the best day of the weekend looks as though it will be sunday, with dry weather across the uk. and this is what the average temperature at this time of year. 16 in the south and 14 in the north, so that's roughly what we're getting. hello and welcome to bbc news. in the last few hours, the us military and south korean officials have confirmed that north korea fired a ballistic missile which exploded shortly after launch. the failed test, reportedly from near an airfield in puk—chang.

4:50 am

came just hours after a special session at the un security council in which the us pushed for tougher sanctions on the pyongyang regime. barbara plett—usher has this report from the un headquarters in new york. after weeks of mounting concern in washington about north korea, the secretary of state arrived at the united nations to make his case. un sanctions aren't working, was the message.